Suicide does require intent, at least in every definition I've seen. Two drunk guys racing where one slips, falls on his head and dies isn't suicide. If there's no distinction between misjudgment and "suicidal empathy," then it's a useless and unnecessarily charged phrase.
What is the group we are "suicidally empathetic" toward? Homeless people? That sounds pretty evil. Rapists? Who is "empathetic" toward rapists based on their rapist tendencies? The idea that because one homeless person turned out to be a rapist, that means empathy for homeless people is "suicidal," seems so deeply evil to me. It's an excuse to write off whole groups of people by saying "look, one of them committed a crime"
the intent is/can be in the act itself, without the inherent end goal of death. someone messing around with a loaded gun pulls the trigger while pointing it at themselves. they committed suicide, regardless of knowing the gun was loaded or that it was pointed at themselves. you make the decision to drink something without knowing its harmful, and die, you committed suicide.
a misjudgment could just be an honest mistake. or maybe it involves a personal experience, they look like someone she knew and trusted. suicidal empathy in this regard is purposefully lowering your guard/not sticking to the process in order to be more equal/human/empathetic as the end goal, not because there is something inherently to be more empathetic about.
I don't think recognizing suicidal empathy towards homeless people is evil at all. again it goes back to basic survival.
if it, in this case a person, is unknown, you shouldn't trust them period. no evil there at all, that is just pure basic survival.
if that person gives a reason to be on guard, homeless aren't always well balanced. she should have at least addressed it from that standpoint, gotten to know the individual, and then lowered her guard if appropriate. it isn't evil to be wary about something you know can be unstable until you get a chance to review it.
if there is some type of training or warning given, you shouldn't trust them. at least as the first default reaction. nothing evil in relying on training, its there for a reason, usually painful experience; and if given a warning its common sense to listen at first.
I don't know about ricky's particular, but back when I volunteered I saw way too much of that suicidal empathy, we called it "too close too fast". never had a case of rape, that I knew about, but definitely had to physically separate and restrain multiple people we were helping because a naive helper got "too close too fast". saw multiple homeless get kicked out of the program because of it, while a more steady and untrusting approach was working with those same individuals.